How To Define Suspects, Prospects and Leads

Different people have different definitions and placement of targets within the sales process (You do have a sales process, right?) For some, it’s starts with a "suspect." For others, the first step is called a "lead." However you choose to label the contacts in your process, some definitions are in order.

For me, it starts with the “suspect.” This is simply a company or person within a company who might just be needing what I’m offering. For all intent and purpose, it’s an educated guess. I see a product on a store shelf and it could use a little help. I nab the company name off the package and any other info they have there and pop it into my phone. Or maybe I’ll read a story in the business press about a company in one of the industries I serve, who just brought on a new Marketing Director. I fire up my browser and check them out. These are simply folks who might be a good fit for my business. More research and a first point of contact are needed. It might be a phone call, but usually a letter of introduction followed by a call.

Other times the tables are turned and the suspects contacts me as a result of our various marketing and public relations efforts. Either way, there’s an inquiry and now I have a suspect.

I talk a bit with Joe Suspect after he’s read my letter and perhaps visited my site. I find he does, in fact, buy what I sell. I learn he works with creative shops on a regular basis and buys the type of work I do. Nifty! All of a sudden, Joe Suspect moves up to Joe Prospect. We’ve made contact and I’ve begun to qualify him as a good fit. He has experience working with a creative shops, he understands what things cost, the chemistry, so far, feels right and his company offers the potential for us to create excellent work in an industry we know.

As we build the relationship, I work on becoming a valuable resource for Joe. I keep in touch. Maybe we have lunch here and there. I send him an article or two I think will be useful to him. The idea here is to build trust and rapport, while demonstrating your talent, knowledge and abilities.

Eventually, Joe has a need. It might be a brochure, some site work, a package design, etc. Once Joe has a need for our services, he moves up to “lead.” We meet to discuss the project, timetable, budgets and goals. We’re invited to whip up a proposal and make a presentation.

But, before we dump a load of time and resources into drafting a proposal and putting on a dog and pony show, we need to determine if the gig is good for us. Is the timetable doable within our workload? Is the budget livable ... and profitable? Does the project offer us the opportunity to do an excellent job? Can we realistically under-promise and over-deliver? Can we make Joe look good? If we can honestly say, “yes” to questions like these, we can move forward.

A well defined sales process in the start of building your business. It's something that will be honed over time but the critical part is starting.